Anatomy of a Misfit: International Migration Statistics

Anatomy of a Misfit: International Migration Statistics, prepared by Ahmad Wali Ahmad-Yar and Tuba Bircan and shared by MDPI, points out the importance of accurate, reliable and timely data to understand global migration patterns, develop scenarios, design effective policies, focus on the population’s needs, and identify how these needs change over time. In addition, the article focuses on the ways to avoid data gaps by reviewing and categorizing the gaps in the literature and assessing the statistical data sources, i.e., UN DESA, OECD, IOM, Eurostat and UNHCR. According to the results of the research, the gaps could be categorized under 5 points:

• definitions and measures
• drivers or reasons behind migration
• geographic coverage
• gaps in demographic characteristics
• the time lag in the availability of data.

The article also touches upon the quality and availability of both migration flows and stocks data vary across regions and countries, and migration statistics highly rely on immigrants’ arrival.